


Turnabout Breadcrumbs

by MoF10



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Established Relationship, Implied Relationships, It's a ladder btw, Minor Heavensward spoilers, Multi, fast burn (?), the opposite of slow burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:41:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25587655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoF10/pseuds/MoF10
Summary: The fabled Lawyer of Light receives a letter from her (not long lost) sister.
Relationships: Quite a Few Relationships, referenced relationships - Relationship
Comments: 3
Kudos: 7
Collections: Summer Fic Exchange 2020





	Turnabout Breadcrumbs

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Antiloquist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Antiloquist/gifts).



> Part of the Emet Selch's Bookclub Summer Fic Exchange. (2020). 
> 
> Please consider joining the server if you enjoy Ascians, or if you don't. Enjoying fic is probably more important. (Well, why else would you be here if you didn't...?)
> 
> https://discord.gg/enabling-debauched-xivfic

**7th Moon, 21st Sun, One Bell Past Noon**

**The Rising Stones Law Agency**

**Main Foyer**

It was a boiling summer day in Mor Dhona. While summer had held back for the last few days, it pulled no punches today by beating down rays of sunlight hot enough to make even a cactuar sweat.

Thankfully, Tataru’s latest investment into Wedge’s so-called ‘Cooler Master MK XIV’ had paid dividends by keeping the Rising Stones Law Agency at a temperature _just_ cold enough to freeze an auroch. 

Lycelle, the agency’s resident ‘Lawyer of Light’, wasn’t complaining. She would rather spend a lifetime dealing with Ishgard’s cold than have to spend even an _hour_ working up a sweat in Ul’dah. 

So, when she was greeted by a blast of arctic air as she entered the foyer, it was a far more pleasant experience than most other of her colleagues would make it out to be. (Though she’d have to make sure that the book attached to her belt didn’t freeze on _again.)_

“Hiya Lycelle!” Tataru, the receptionist, called out from behind a mountain of papers as she heard footsteps descend down the stairs. Lycelle never could figure out how she knew her by the sound of her feet.

“Hi Tataru. Any new cases?” Lycelle approached her desk and peered around the papers to give Tataru a friendly wave.

“No, not today. Ul’dah’s just giving me a headache with a buncha brand new tariffs they want to put on Kugane, and they’re leaving me to sort out the paperwork.” She sighed. “I don’t understand! They have their own lawyers!”

“They’re all probably too busy looking for loopholes.” Lycelle paged through the nearest stack of paperwork, practicing an exercise in futility by scanning the dense words for anything of interest.

“Ugh, sometimes I wish someone’d pay us to fight _them_ instead of the other way around.” Tataru moved a stack of paperwork onto the floor to make room on the desk. “Oh, yeah! Alyce was just in and she left an urgent message for you.” 

“She did?” Lycelle couldn’t even begin to imagine what her sister had in store. Though she knew well enough to guess that it probably had something to do with requesting her services as wing-woman or that ever-mysterious Hildibrand. 

“Yup! She didn’t say what it was about, just left this envelope here for you.” The lalafell handed Lycelle a plain envelope stained with tea. “Oh, and to get to the Forgotten Knight as fast as you could.”

**Alyce’s Letter added to the Court Record.**

Lycelle sighed as she took it. “Alright. The usual?” 

“Yup! Alphinaud gets to deal with any boring stuff that comes up, and I’ll save any murders for you, right?”

“Right. Thank you, Tataru.”

**7th Moon, 21st Sun, Three Bells Past Noon**

**The Forgotten Knight**

Gibrillont greeted Lycelle with a pitying nod as she descended the steps into the somewhat empty bar. Alyce was already seated at a nearby table, chatting and drinking with a few familiar faces - Sid and Urianger.

“Lycelle! You made it!” Alyce’s rabbit ears perked up as she turned to face Lycelle before pulling a chair out for the lawyer. Her two tablemates waved as Lycelle sat down.

“I did. No crimes to solve today? And what are you doing here, Urianger?” 

“Wellll, kinda. It’s a little _off the books.”_ A mischievous glint flashed in Alyce’s eyes. That couldn’t be good.

“Thou sister sent for me posthaste for the same reasons she hath sent for you.” Urianger added.

“And Sid?” 

The dark knight only half-grumbled in response as he took a drink.

“Dragged in. Got it. So what was so important that I had to come here _immediately?”_ Gillbrillont brought Lycelle a drink, paid for by her acquittal of Gillbrillont on murder charges last Umbral Era. (She still wasn’t sure why the temple knights would try to frame a bar owner who spent every waking moment surrounded by witnesses.)

Alyce spoke with the most serious voice she could muster. “Did Tataru give you my letter?” Lycelle nodded. 

“Good, open it.”

“What... what in Halone have you done this time?”

“Nothing! Just open it!”

Lycelle glanced one more time at her sister as she pulled the envelope out and carefully prised the plain seal open. “Did it come to you with these stains on it?”

“...No...”

Inside the envelope was a small torn piece of fabric, half painted on and probably taken from a larger piece.

“...What is this?” 

**Torn Fabric added to the Court Record.**

“I don’t know. Someone in the Brume just gave it to me, told me to give it to the ‘Lawyer of Light’.” Alyce said as she leaned back in her chair. “At first I thought it was just some fan-mail, but it came with a note.” 

She handed Lycelle a scrap of paper with barely readable handwriting. 

**Unknown Letter added to the Court Record.**

“I hath gone through the trouble of deciphering thy note.” Urianger said, passing along another scrap of paper with his familiar clean penmanship. “Thou may yet find more meaning than I.”

**Mysterious Note’s Translation added to the Court Record.**

_‘A piece of the whole, torn asunder. Yet for many, it draws wonder._

_Ready for its premiere, forgotten but once a year,_

_Mayhap a nursery rhyme, my hero, it is your time._

_Silver and blue, with a heart always true,_

_All but a soul the wiser.’_

“...What?” Lycelle read the note aloud and came away with less understanding than she began with. _“Is_ this fan mail?”

Alyce laughed before answering. “Fans don’t usually give you a riddle to solve, do they?”

“No, they don’t.” Lycelle admitted. At this rate, she might actually _investigate._ “Do you remember who gave you the letter?”

“Not really. They ran off pretty quick. Had their face covered with a hood, too.” 

“Great...” 

“If I may interrupt, ‘Silver and Blue’ ringeth a bell, does it not?” Both Lycelle and Alyce looked at Urianger with sudden interest.

“Thou knoweth as well as I whom ‘silver and blue’ may refer to.” He aimed his remark towards Lycelle.

“...I do?” She paused, suddenly realizing the answer. “Aymeric? Silver and blue?”

“Of course, whatever or whomever the clue referreth to may yet prove different, but a certain visage fails to escape mine eyes.” 

Lycelle interrupted him before he could recite a poem about their mutual lover. “So I’ll have to ask Aymeric.” She stood before questioning the last tablemate. “Sid, while I’m here, do you know anything?” 

He gave her another static grumble that sounded vaguely negative. 

“Alright. You wanna come with, Alyce?” Lycelle asked. She already knew the answer.

“Of course! It’ll be just like the old days!” Her sister hopped up so quickly her ears bounced.

“We worked a case together _last week._ Urianger, do you want to come with?”

“Nay, Sidurgu had engaged me with deeply stimulating discussion ere your arrival. I shall meetst thou later.” Urianger cast a gaze towards the Au Ra, who somehow remained silent and grumbleless.

**7th Moon, 21st Sun, Three Bells and a Quarter Past Noon**

**The Congregation of Our Knights Most Heavenly**

**Entrance**

After a quick prance through Ishgard’s main square, the Congregation (or COKs as Alyce was trying to call it) was a welcome respite from the possessive cold.

Lucia gave them a curt nod as the duo entered. There were already many previous nights where the silhouettes of a lawyer and a detective had graced their halls, and many more where the lawyer (and mayhap her astrologian friend) asked for an audience with Aymeric.

With very few exceptions, their wishes were always granted. The Lord Commander kept an open door for very few people, and both of tonight’s guests were on that list. 

“A case or a personal call?” She asked out of some notion of formality. An investigator and a barrister _stunk_ of a mystery. 

“A case, this time.” Lycelle answered. “Is he free?”

“For you, of course.” Some semblance of a smile crossed her face. “I was just about to check if he was still awake and not sleeping on his usual bed of paperwork, so you can check in my place.”

“I’ll never understand how you guys survive all of that. You and Aymeric go through enough paper to feed three families for a fortnight!” Alyce commented as Lucia unlocked the door.

“I don’t either. Aymeric’s the one you should be asking.” 

“You know the way.” Lucia said, returning to her place adjacent the door.

**7th Umbral Era, 21st Sun, Just Past Three Bells and a Quarter Past Noon**

**The Congregation of Our Knights Most Heavenly**

**Aymeric’s Office**

“Aymeriiiic~ Wake uuuup!” Alyce waved an important looking document before the dozing Commander in the hopes that the odour might rouse him. No such luck. Lycelle idly wondered if his reputation as a prosecutor would suffer if the judge knew that he made pillows out of most of the case files he presented in court.

“Let him rest, Lucia’ll smack him awake once we leave.” She idly gazed around the familiar office as Aymeric’s impossibly handsome sleeping face remained silent. “It’s probably the best part of her job.” 

There were papers scattered on just about every inch of flat surface of the once spacious office. A ‘guest’ table had long ago been co-opted for the cause of sheltering homeless paper, though by some miracle the accompanying chair was clear of any debris. The afternoon sun shining through his wide window almost invited Lycelle to sit and watch Aymeric’s slight stirrings as he slept.

As always, most of the detritus was concentrated on the Aymeric’s ornate oak desk shoved into the corner of the room. Lycelle could see that his well-used quill and inkpot had failed to be reunited, the feather still poking upright from within the tight clutch of his unconscious hand. 

It was heartening to see that the various gifts that Urianger or herself had given him over the moons were all _somewhere_ within the room. If it were another time, she might have found a little amusement in searching for them.

Needless to say, just about everything was out of place which, for Aymeric, meant that everything was in its place. 

Thankfully, the typhoon of paper and various knick knacks did not spread outside of the office, though that was likely due to the doubly sponsored ‘All of your gods damned paperwork stays in the gods damned office’ bill passed by Lycelle and Urianger over one night’s dinner.

“Oh, what’s this?” Alyce picked out a letter from the sea of paperwork that laid just beyond Aymeric’s hand. It was a familiar tea-stained brown. 

“Another one?” Lycelle asked as her sister handed her the paper.

**Second Unknown Letter added to the Court Record.**

“Yeah... it’s already open. Why don’t you take a look?”

“Aren’t you the detective?” 

“...It feels like these are meant for you, _Lawyer of Light.”_ Alyce eagerly leaned in to watch her unearth what secrets were planted within.

For a moment, the only sound within the office was the _crinkle_ of old paper. The letter within was much like the one Urianger had translated and just as messy.

_‘You’ve done well, rung in before the ring of the bell,_

_Now make like a dove,_

_And search for the secret up above.’_

“Oh, Lycelle!” Aymeric had dragged himself awake from the depths of sleep, though his cheek was still planted firmly on the desk. “To what do I owe your pleasure?”

“I’m here too!” Alyce interjected, placing her face inches away from Aymeric’s. 

“Of course.” The chair creaked as he pushed himself up off the desk. There were deep bags under his eyes. “Do you require an inquiry into a suspect’s family?”

Lycelle shook her head. “Not a murder this time. Not even a case.”

“But a _mystery!”_ Alyce summoned sparkles to her eyes with her declaration.

“Someone gave my sister a letter that led us here, and we picked up another one off of your desk.”

“...A letter?” Aymeric tilted his head. “I don’t recall receiving any unusual correspondence today. What did it look like?”

Lycelle handed over the brown paper. “Like this. No seal, no coat of arms.”

Aymeric turned the paper over, appraising it with a hum as he read its contents. “How curious. This had not reached my desk before I... took a quick rest.”

Alyce snorted. “It hadn’t?”

“Nay. I was adjusting Lucia’s salary ere sleep overtook me, there were no letters accompanying the paperwork.”

“She _did_ do great work on the Hildebrand case.” Alyce mused. 

“Then... how did this letter even get in here?” Lycelle looked at the letter with newfound trepidation. There weren’t many people who had access to this office.

Aymeric thought for a moment before coming up empty. “Mayhap Lucia will have an answer. That window always remains locked, unless that Yatagarasu chose to entertain herself by breaking in _again.”_

“Still? It’s been an entire era since your last case!” Lycelle sighed as she paged through papers on his desk. 

He shrugged. “You and I know that Hilda’s motivations are unknown to all but herself and Halone.”

“Mhm. That much is true.” Another sigh was all she could muster.

Whatever laid at the end of the path of letters was completely undecipherable. Though the next step of tracking down the legendary thief was never not difficult.

Lycelle sighed. “I’ll ask Lucia on the way out and let you get back to your paperwork.”

“Stay safe. You know where she’ll be.”

**7th Umbral Era, 21st Sun, Three Bells and Three Quarters Past Noon**

**The Forgotten Knight**

**Upper Rafters**

Lycelle would pay anyone an inordinate amount of her already limited budget to install some sort of Yatagarasu capture system, or at least some ‘Get-Yatagarasu-Down-From-The-Godsdamned-Ceiling’ system.

“So Lucia didn’t see anyone, huh?” Alyce stood on a beam, looking down at her sister from the rafters.

Lycelle gasped for air as she pulled herself up. Why did Hilda always have to choose all of the places that were _extremely_ tiring to reach? 

“No.” She took a moment to catch her breath and gain her footing on the old but solid wood above the bustling bar. “So it _must_ have been her, unless someone else can break into the Commander’s office.”

“Your Ascians can’t?” Alyce raised an eyebrow as she scanned the grid of beams for their target.

“It’s Selch’s turn to renovate the house, and Elidibus is busy placating Hythlodaeus after he forgot to do the dishes again. None of them have the time.”

“Who woulda thought that they would have ended up together, huh?”

“Oh please, they were all making eyes at each other since Amaurot. Oh, there she is.” A shadow was speedily approaching them accompanied by the barest thumps of feet against wood, beginning a dance and spin around the visitors.

Lycelle caught the smallest glint of metal in the dim light.

“Good afternoon, Hilda.” The Yatagarasu stopped at her words. 

“Hm. I’m losing my touch.” Hilda suddenly came into focus as the shadows seemed to melt away from her. Alyce had long theorized that she employed some sort of dark magicks, but never took into account that Hilda chose _dark places_ to meet them.

“Far better than waiting a quarter bell for you to slip up. If I didn’t enjoy your company I’d refuse to participate in your ‘wait until you can see me before greeting me’ game.”

“Keeps me sharp. You know that.” Hilda sat down cross-legged on a single beam. “Now, are you here on a social call?”

“Never.” Lycelle’s remark brought a grin to Hilda’s face. “Do you know anything of a letter that made its way onto the Lord Commander’s desk?”

“Plenty.” Hilda let a leg swing lazily off the beam. “Any one in particular?”

Lycelle presented the brown paper to her. “Tea stained. Plain seal. Placed on his desk while he slept.”

“And? What’s special about this letter?” Her leg stopped swinging. “That some thief placed it on his desk? _Plenty_ of thieves put letters on desks.”

“Who gave it to you?” 

“Dunno. Some Temple Knight asked me to deliver it to Aymeric. Why they chose _me_ is a mystery.” She stood up, dusting off her backside. “Just told me to leave it on his desk and give the Lawyer o’ Light a little extra something if she came looking my way.” 

Lycelle crossed her arms and leaned against a column, keenly aware of what page of her grimoire housed a quick sleep spell.

Hilda looked at Alyce before she spoke. “Didn’t expect the Detective of Light to come knocking too. Oh well.” She reached into her coat with a smirk. 

Lycelle’s arm twitched, and Alyce was beet red.

Hilda withdrew her arm with the speed of a samurai, revealing a... letter. She handed it to Alyce.

Lycelle sighed, letting a wave of tension leave her body. “Another one? Gods. Just how many _are_ there?” She hated how easily that Hilda could intimidate her.

“You’ll have to figure that one out yourself. Later.” Was all she said before she leapt away into the shadows.

Alyce stood stock still for a few moments. “So hot...”

“If you want her that bad, go _get her.”_ Lycelle paced over another beam and plucked the letter out of her sister’s lovestruck hand.

**Third Unknown Letter added to the Court Record**

“It’s not _my_ fault that her pretty face leaves me speechless! And her...” Alyce launched into the usual spiel complimenting every single aspect about the Yatagarasu.

Lycelle opened the letter, letting her sister continue speaking to no one. The text was barely legible in the already dim light atop the rafters.

_‘To yourself you must tend,_

_Know that your journey nears its end._

_Though giving up tempts,_

_You know where to go.’_

“...No, I don’t.” She was racking her head for answers, but balancing on a beam hardly helped her focus.

“How _does_ she do that shadow thi- Oh, the letter! What does it say?” Alyce snapped out of her fantastical daydreams.

“Read it yourself.” Lycelle let Alyce take the paper out of her hands with a slightly different _crinkle._ “I have no idea where to go next.”

The detective’s eyes slowly scanned the letter, though whether or not the words were entering the organ _behind_ those blue eyes was another thing entirely.

“I think I have it!” Alyce hopped on the beam. “All of the other ones rhymed, right?”

Lycelle piqued at the suggestion. “Yes... but this one doesn’t.”

“What if the clue is that it _doesn’t?”_ She pointed at the second to last line, at least Lycelle figured she was pointing at the second to last line in the low light. “And now we have to find a place that rhymes with ‘tempts!’ ”

“...You’re right. So... where to go...” The lawyer hesitantly glanced at the rickety footholds in the column she had used to get up the 50 yalm climb “Aside from down. You’d think that I’d have the good sense to bring along a ladder after all the _other_ times that we’ve had to come up here.”

“You mean a stepladder?” There was a dangerous glint in the detective’s eyes.

“No, I mean a ladder. We are _malms_ above the ground. Whether or not it’s a ladder or stepladder doesn’t mean anything if we have _neither.”_ Lycelle carefully guided herself onto the column before a realization hit her.“I figured it out! I know where we’re going next!”

**7th Umbral Era, 21st Sun, Four Bells and a Quarter Past Noon**

**The Last Vigil**

**In Front of the House Fortemps Manor**

“... which requires an entire extra ladder to be _considered_ a stepladder.” The good-natured argument that spawned as soon as they reached the ground had continued across the entire wind-swept walk to the Last Vigil. 

“But they’re both ladders! There’s no need to be exclusive, Lycelle!”

“I am _not_ being exclusive. I am just calling them by their proper names.” Lycelle was trying not to slip on the icy stones as the familiar manor . “A ladder by any other name will still raise you just as well.”

“But I couldn’t call you the ‘Prosecutor of Light’ and expect it to make sense!” Alyce quickly snapped back with a well used argument. 

“It still doesn’t matter when we never bring an... _elevation device_ anyways.” Lycelle nodded at Jantout, the usual guard as she pushed open the door with Alyce following closely behind. “I just hope that we don’t find another let-”

The moment the door opened enough to reveal the main living room, the Lawyer of Light was presented with a scene far beyond anything she had even witnessed during her investigations. The group of familiar faces gave her only enough time to comprehend that they existed before beginning their celebration. 

First, her ears were assaulted by what felt like dozens of voices all shouting something like ‘Surprise!’ (though she was fairly sure she heard ‘Not Guilty!’ shouted by a familiar head of white hair). 

Then sparklers, banners, and all sorts of confettis and bright lights were summoned, filling the room with bright flashes and colours galore. It was only then that Lycelle could pick out a few faces from the crowd within the halls. Aymeric, Urianger, the Scions, Sid, and even M’naago had shown up within the Fortemp’s house for some celebration. She caught a glimpse of Edmont well behind the crowd giving Lycelle a smile.

Alyce, for her part, suddenly had an impractically large bottle of champagne in her hands. “Surprise, sis!” She shouted over the sudden din. “Happy Nameday!” How she didn’t wince with her giant ears was a question for another time.

“Wha...” Lycelle turned to stare blankly at her sister. All of the pieces were clicking into place. “Name... It was _you?!”_

“Duh. Who else could have given a letter to Urianger, Aymeric, _and_ Hilda aka the Yatagarasu?” She flicked her gaze to the thief hiding behind a curtain. “No offense, but we _both_ know that she would _never_ take a letter from a Temple Knight.”

Lycelle was just about speechless. “...Gods. The whole thing...? Why-”

“Because you always forget your Nameday! I wanted to remind you!” Alyce spoke as if organizing a vaguely mysterious letter sequence was the _logical_ thing to do. 

Mayhaps it was. She _had_ forgotten the last few. Honestly, she _preferred_ to forget one of the few things Garlemald left her. Oftentimes, it dredged up far too many unpleasant feelings to make the day worth celebrating.

“And I got you a gift! Here, give me the little bit of fabric that was in Urianger’s letter.” Alyce brandished a length of cloth from her bag. 

Lycelle handed the piece of fabric over with little hesitation. She would never admit it, but she was the _tiniest_ bit excited to see what her sister was planning.

After a moment of quick stitching, Alyce was beaming as she presented Lycelle with her gift: A banner with a familiar red design carefully printed onto it.

“Gods, Alyce, you didn’t have to...” Was all Lycelle could say as she gazed at the cloth. Alyce had somehow incorporated her trademark law-plus-scholar book into the design as a red book providing a platform for the bust of the Fortempts unicorn. There was even a half moon behind the beast, a sad reminder of what could have been. 

But more than that, it was a reminder of one of the few places that had taken her, who was just beyond an empty shell, in. One of the few places where her Nameday could be _celebrated_ and not _feared._

“Aha... I had a certain Leveilleur help me out.” She winked at the Elezen that was struggling to poke his head above his sister. “What do you think?”

“It’s...” All of the adjectives Lycelle knew couldn’t describe how her heart swelled when she looked at the design. An emblem of where she truly _belonged_ eluded words.

“Oof!” Alyce was enveloped in a sudden hug and pretended not to notice the tears pricking her sister’s eyes.

“It’s _amazing.”_

**Author's Note:**

> “Come on, you’ve got to admit that some of those rhymes were very clever!”  
> "I've seen better from de Killer."
> 
> Hi Ant! I really hope you like this and that it wasn't too far off of your character's personalities!  
> I just so happened to know that you liked Ace Attorney, and guess where my brain led me:  
> A new AU where the WoL is a lawyer, her sister is a Detective, and her lovers are a prosecutor and Law PhD!
> 
> All that side, this was a really fun fic to write~ I love your WoLs qq
> 
> Again: Please consider joining the Emet Selch Bookclub if you enjoy fanfic and writing!  
> https://discord.gg/enabling-debauched-xivfic


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